Overshadowing
by Flaming Tigress Mage
Summary: Chris desperately wants to be known as someone other than her mother's child. Spoilers through Vol. 15 of the manga, Japanese names


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Much shorter than my usual pieces, due to Chris deciding that she wanted to be difficult.

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Chris desperately wants to be known as someone other than her mother's child.

Chris' mother was the best capture pro in her generation. Whenever Chris went out with her, people would crowd around the two, asking her mother to demonstrate her skills. While at first, Chris enjoyed the attention paid to her mother, she began to become annoyed after she had declared her intention to become a capture pro. "Just like her mother, that one!" "She's her mother's child, all right." "Isn't that --'s daughter? How cute!" When she introduced herself to others, they'd immediately begin talking about her mother.

While she loves her mother dearly, Chris is sick and tired of her overshadowing Chris' accomplishments. It's fine when she hangs around people her own age – they don't tend to pay attention to the older generation much. However, whenever she spends time in the company of adults, invariably, the conversation will turn to her mother if Chris reveals who she is.

Because of this, Chris has done her absolute best to keep from emulating her mother in any way, shape, or form. Her mother is bouncy and energetic unless she's in action – Chris is only that energetic when she's in the middle of trying to catch a Pokémon. Her mother is frivolous when speaking – Chris takes great deliberation with everything she says. Her mother flagrantly breaks all of her self-imposed limitations if it means achieving a goal – Chris will never go against her personal rules of conduct, even if it means failing.

Chris watches her mother closely, if only to determine what she _shouldn't_ do. Her mother is never serious unless she is committed to helping someone else out – at which point, she will drop all of her happy-go-lucky demeanor and work as hard as possible to complete her goal. Despite her dedication, or perhaps because of it, Chris' mother doesn't take on many jobs, deciding instead to wander and catch the Pokémon that she likes.

After watching her mother reject offer after offer, Chris decides that her mother, although talented, is wasting her skills wandering the countryside, when she could be helping those who can't do the job themselves. Because of this, Chris takes the first opportunity for a job that she can get, sending her resume to Earl upon his request to catch the wild Pokémon bothering his school.

Once her first job has been completed (an overwhelming success, especially with her ability to catch by kicking instead of throwing), Chris plunges headfirst into the next one, particularly since catching every type of Pokémon in the world is a task even her mother would pause at before taking. She smiles at Professor Oak's comments about her dedication and Bill's comments about her serious demeanor when there's work to be done, because to her, it is proof that she is more than her mother's child.

But when she runs into Suicune at the Tin Tower and fails to catch it, Chris melts, because even if she is strong, even if she is determined, even if she stands out from her mother impeccably, here is a challenge that she could have won if she listened to Suicune's heart, a challenge that her mother would have breezed through effortlessly. Chris has built herself up on being strong, determined, and _different_ from her mother, and to see all of her values that she has lived by for years be torn down in a single battle with a wild Pokémon hurts her more than she could have possibly imagined.

Because of this, Chris listens to her mother when she is told to train at Mount Mortar again and regain her confidence. Her Pokémon listen to her because of the bond they share, but they know that what Chris needs is not a solution provided by her mother, but something she can come up with on her own and take pride in her self-reliance. Although given an opportunity to restart from the beginning, to come up with a better way of living and a better set of values, Chris' mother unknowingly causes her to sink further into her rebellion, and Chris travels with her burden for some time.

It is not until she meets up with the other Pokédex holders that Chris realizes that something is wrong with someone in the confrontation. Even though she is the one to kick the Pokéball directly at Lugia's vital spot and is the one to show him about the Pokédex tracking system, even though _she_ is the one who _he_ is trying to rescue on the boat, Gold is much more interested in Silver than he is in her. Gold even had the nerve to _lecture_ her about being serious, and almost roasted her when they were travelling to Indigo Plateau.

Gold's behavior in and of itself wouldn't bother Chris that much – after all, that was the way that her mother acted all the time, and Chris was used to putting up with it. What surprised and somewhat disturbed Chris was Silver's similar obsession with Gold, despite the fact that he seemed to be as serious and determined as she was. Gold didn't seem to care that Silver was serious and determined, but he lectured _her _about being too serious and proper, while Silver, whose relationship with Gold she would have figured a parallel with her and her mother, didn't seem to care that Gold was frivolous and carefree.

Even while they were journeying together and Silver had left, Chris felt that Gold treated her as more of a tagalong than a partner, like he did Silver. Even Professor Oak, who had always radiated approval of Chris' actions, seemed to come more to life when he was yelling at Gold. Chris began to wonder if she really wanted to be the person in the background, the serious person who people can count on to follow the rules and thereby take for granted, when she could be more like Gold and her mother – the strong, if excitable person who people look up to and admire, telling their children to look at _her_, as it was unlikely if she would ever act the same way twice.

After she witnesses firsthand that even someone as ridiculously silly as Gold can yield the spotlight to his other, more serious teammates, Chris finally pulls herself out of her rut and decides to begin her life anew. She starts to work at Professor Oak's lab (something that she is _positive _her mother has never done) and decides that acting like her mother, even if she doesn't want to be eclipsed by her mother's fame, is acceptable. Nowadays, Chris is much more laidback about things, much more willing to be bouncy and happy and frivolously cheerful about everything.

She mentioned her mother to Gold and Silver once, when the two of them had met up for a battle and she had taken their Pokémon to heal them. Silver shrugged, saying that her mom was her mom and Chris was Chris. Gold, much more articulate, began exclaiming, "That's awesome! She must be so proud to have a super-cool capture pro as a daughter!" Chris just smiled, and hugged them both.

Chris desperately wanted to be known as someone other than her mother's child.

It wasn't until she met Gold and Silver that she realized that she already was.


End file.
